
^W^^a:. ^.^Crjz^^y 






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AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



CITY GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENS OF ROXBURY, 



CONSECRATION 



CEMETERY AT FOREST HILLS, 



JUNE 28, 1848 



BY GEORGE PUTNAM, D. D. 



TOGETHEE WITH THE OTHER SERVICES OP CONSECRATION. 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 




ROXBURY: 
JOSEPH G. TORREY, CITY PRINTER. 

1848. 



AN 

ADDRESS 

DELlrEBEO BEFOBE THE 

CITY GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENS OF ROXBURY, 

AT THE 

CONSECRATION 

OF THE 

CEMETERY AT FOREST HILLS, 

JUNE 28, 1848. 
BY GEORGE PUTNAM. D. D. 

TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER SERVICES OF CONSECRATION. 
PRINTED BY OROER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 



ROXBURY: 
JOSEPH G. TORREY, CITY PRINTER. 

1848. 



^73 

CITY OF ROXBURY. 



In Common Council, July 3, 1848. 

Ordered, That the thanks of the City Council be tendered to the Rev. 
George Putnam, D. D., for the able, eloquent, and appropriate Address 
delivered before the City Government and Citizens of Roxbury, at the Conse- 
cration of the Cemetery at Forest Hills, on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 
28ih, and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the same for publication. 

Ordered further, That the thanks of the City Council be tendered to Rev. 
Augustus C. Thompson, for the appropriate introductory prayer: — To 
Rev. John Wayland, D. D., for appropriate selections from the Holy 
Scriptures : — To Rev. Cvnus H. Fay, for the beautiful Hymns composed 
by him : — To Rev. Edmund F. SLArTER, for the appropriate concluding 
prayers, — and that they severally be requested to furnish copies of the same 
for publication. 

Sent up for concurrence. 

JOSHUA SEAVER, Clerk. 



In Board of Aldermen, July 3, 1848. 
Concurred. 

JOSEPH W. TUCKER, City Clerk. 



CITY OF ROXBURY. 



In Common Council, July 3,' 1848. 

Ordered, That the thanks of the City Council be tendered to Mr. Alpheub 
E. Trowbridge, and the ladies and gentlemen composing the choir, for the 
acceptable manner in which the vocal music was conducted on the occasion of 
the Consecration. 

Ordered further. That the thanks of the City Council be tendered to the 
gentlemen who officiated as Marshals on the occasion, for the prompt, cour- 
teous, and efficient manner in which they discharged their several duties. 

SCfit up for concurrence. 

'"•..'. JOSHUA SEAVER, Clerk. 

In Board Of Aldermen, July 3, 1848. 
Concurred. 

JOSEPH W. TUCKER, City Clerk. 



ADDRESS. 



The Report of a Committee of the City Council, presented 
in September last, and since widely distributed, sets forth 
fully the advantages and the necessity of a Rural Cemetery, 
to be established within the limits of this city. 

With brief delay, justified by the important financial 
questions connected with the subject, the Municipal Author- 
ities have made liberal provision for the object. Their 
design has been carried out thus far with energy and good 
judgment by those intrusted with the conduct of it, and the 
result is before and around us, or rather that effective be- 
ginning which guarantees the progressive accomplishment 
of the object desired. 

The satisfaction which the people of Roxbury will feel m 
the measure, now so far achieved, may well be shared, I 
think, by a portion of the inhabitants of the adjommg me- 
tropolis, who cannot expect much longer to find suitable 
and sufficient space for burial within a shorter distance. 
What has been done has not been done too soon, nor on too 
large a scale, nor at too great a cost. The future will justify 
it, nay, it is already justified to the feelings and to the judg- 
ment of those who take an interest in it. 

The spot is well chosen. It lies apart from the great 
thoroughfares of the world, and yet near to the dwellings of 
those multitudes who are one day to occupy its quiet pre- 
cincts. Nature has done all for it that we could desire, and 



4 

consummate science and taste have been displayed, in pre- 
paring it for its uses — no, not displayed ; — true science and 
taste never display themselves in such a scene as this. Their 
most perfect art consists in hiding themselves and letting 
nature reveal herself — that all may be of God, and nothing 
of man. Whenever man's work comes to look most con- 
spicuous here, it will argue either some failure in the de- 
signing artist, or else some defect in our own mental vision. 

" Temptation here is none to exceed the truth." 

Of the many rural cemeteries that have been opened 
within the last twenty years, in the vicinity of our principal 
cities and large towns, each has its own peculiar felicities of 
position and scenery. Each has some one charm that dis- 
tinguishes it from the others. Comparison is rendered as 
difficult as it is ungracious. Absolute superiority cannot be 
claimed for any one of them. It is not to be claimed for 
this, which to-day is added to the number of sacred en- 
closures. 

Nature never repeats herself in landscape. She does not 
use a tithe of her infinite resources to adorn any one spot. 
A few touches of her plastic moulding and divine pencilling 
suffice to make a scene as lovely as the human heart can 
appreciate, with but a small draft upon her endless means- 
She always reserves herself, never exhausts herself, never 
competes with herself, never outdoes herself; and she is 
nowhere put to shame except through man's misunderstand- 
ing her design, or perverting it by unsuitable use or vicious 
art. 

Certainly the God of nature has lavishly bestowed here 
the beauty in which he hath delight. We see not how 
more or better could well have been crowded within these 
limits. Whoso asks for more, or different, may well suspect 
the sensibility of his own eye and heart, and might traverse 
the whole green earth unmoved, unsatisfied. 



5 

The way of access to these grounds hes along the green 
aisles of nature, free from the dust of travel and of traffic. 
The landscape is picturesque. There, in the southeast, the 
perpetual hills undulate along the horizon. From yonder 
cliff may be seen the towers of cities and the spires of coun- 
try villages. Through the loop-holes of the tree-tops gleams 
an arm of the sea ; and all around and afar are the fields of 
rural industry and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 

And here, within the enclosure, the heaving surface is 
pleasantly diversified, 

" And mantled o'er with aborigmal turf 
And everlasting flowers." 

Wooded heights and shaded valleys alternate from side to 
side. There are the grassy slopes ; and here, reposing at 
our feet, the little lake of living water reflecting the serene 
heavens. The oak, the walnut and the birch, throw their 
grateful shadows over the paths that wind through the inte- 
rior ; and the southern border is skirted by a solemn grove of 
evergreens, 

" Where angels, as the high pines wave, 
Their half heard misereres sing." 

These jagged piles of uptossed rocks record a fearful his- 
tory of old convulsions and a wild war of the elements ; and 
the mosses on their sides and the gnarled trees in their crev- 
ices are the emblems of present stability and peace. The 
chirp of the squirrel, and the song of the more timid species 
of birds, such as shun the haunts of men, testify of the deep 
retirement of the place. The fountain which breaks cold and 
sweet at the foot of yonder precipice, tells us by its beautiful 
inscription, in the words spoken at Sychar of old, of that 
water, which whosoever drinketh, " it shall be in him a well 
of water springing up into everlasting life." 

Thus felicitously has the Creator's hand, seconded rev- 



6 

erently by an unobtrusive human art, prepared these 
grounds : 

" Even as if the spot 

Had been from eldest time by wish of ours 

So placed, to be shut out from all the world ! 

So lonesome, and so perfectly secure ; 

Not melancholy — no, for it is green 

And bright and fertile : — Peace is here 

Or nowhere ; It could not be more quiet. 

Retreat within retreat — a sheltering place 

Within how deep a shelter !" 

It is fit that such a spot be taken for such a purpose. The 
practice of burying the dead in the heart of cities, and in the 
midst of dense populations, is one of the barbarisms of 
modern civilization, and a decent regard both for the dead 
and the living requires that it should be discontinued. It 
is out of keeping with all our affectionate memories of the 
departed, and with our ideas of the sacred repose due to 
their remains, that their tomb-doors should echo the worldly 
talk and angry disputes, and light laugh and jest of the 
thronged street and market-place. A still greater outrage it 
is upon our best feelings, that the bodies of our beloved and 
revered ones, '\ 'lowed temples of their dear spirits, should 
not be per.uittea io pass back into their native dust, without 
being the subjects of protests and murmurs, and municipal 
restrictions and sanitary regulations. 

And the practice is not much better, except in so far as 
usage and old ecclesiastical associations have sanctified it to 
Christian feeling, of depositing the dead in cells and vaults 
beneath churches. It is bringing death into proximity with 
life in an objectionable manner, while at the same time it 
forbids the sort of nearness that satisfies the heart of the be- 
reaved, and appeals to the moral sentiments of the stranger. 
None can go there to meditate, none can approach the grave 
with any offering of affection. The way to its dark cham- 
bers can only be trod by those who go with a new grief to 



lay another treasure in its repulsive and gloomy receptacle. 
Such methods of burial, we cannot but think, will soon be 
superseded, and a return to more ancient and appropriate 
modes be universally accomplished. 

It is very true, that it matters not to the departed what is 
done with their outward tabernacle when the spirit is flown. 
We cannot harm them, nor help them, by the manner in 
which we dispose of their perishing remains. The rites of 
burial concern the living more than the dead. Not for their 
benefit but for our own hearts' sakes it is that we gather in 
funeral companies around their coffined bodies, and call on 
God in prayer, and reverently lift the pall, and bear them 
forth in solemn procession, and lay them gently down to 
their rest. Not for their benefit ; yet so long as we are in 
the flesh ourselves, our love, our sorrow, our respect, our 
fond recollections cannot be separated from the image of their 
material form. It is sacred dust forever to the souls that 
loved them. Wherever it is laid, our hearts have a property 
in it that can never be alienated while memory and afiec- 
tion endure. There is a hallowed tie that binds us to the 
spot with a holy home feeling, wander where we may. The 
soul of the very savage clings to the land where his fathers' 
bones are laid, and parts from it in anguish, and yearns for 
it as his only home. And no pitch of civilization, no influ- 
ence of philosophy or religion, breaks or ought to break that 
bond of sacred association, woven by love and grief, between 
the yet beating heart, and that heart and hand and counte- 
nance which death has stilled and changed. 

It is sacred dust. We would have it shielded from rude 
intrusion and unseemly neglect. It claims nothing — lying 
there silent and motionless in its coffin — it claims nothing, 
needs nothing, but all the more do our own souls claim for 
it that it be treated with tenderness and honor, and reverent 
care, — as all that we can do now, or seem to do, — a very 
httle, yet all, — and something which we feel it is a sad priv- 
ilege to do, and a shame and a wrong to omit. 



8 

To meet this want, to satisfy this craving, to furnish 
increased and convenient opportunity to the hving to treat 
their dead as the heart prompts and demands, these grounds 
have been provided and prepared. 

And now we are gathered together to devote this enclo- 
sure to its sacred uses. Henceforth, the place is to be 
the City of the Dead. Henceforth, the living shall have no 
rightful office or duty here, but to pay honor to the dead — 
to prepare and adorn their silent chambers, to watch over 
and protect their peaceful slumbers, to hold communion 
with their memories, and with serious mind and tender 
heart to meditate as beneath the shadows of the portal of 
the unseen world. 

It belongs to the dead. We yield it up this day to them, 
as they shall come up one after another from among the 
living to claim a resting place within its sanctuary. It shall, 
henceforth, be no scene of profit, or light amusement, or any 
worldly passion or purpose. Let ambition enter here only 
to be chastened and elevated ; and love only to be refined 
and sanctified; and worldliness only to be rebuked and 
softened ; and unkindness, only to be cast out, and give 
place to holy charity ; and vice, but to be awed to repent- 
ance in the presence of the dread and friendly monitor ; and 
virtue, but to strengthen its vows and gird up its loins anew ; 
and sorrow, but to be soothed to resignation, and to turn its 
flowing eye to heaven in religious hope and peace. 

Let every mark, which the hand of art shall leave within 
these shades, be a memorial in keeping with the purpose 
which we this day recognize. We charge it upon ourselves 
and upon those who shall succeed us, to respect the vows of 
this consecration hour, and guard the spot from all profane 
intrusion. And our children's children, musing along these 
solemn walks over their fathers' ashes, and resting in the 
cool recesses of these monumental cliffs, shall respond to the 



9 

feeling of the Christian poet, speaking of his mountain 
church-yard : 

" And in the centre of a world whose soil 

Is rank with all unkindness, compassed round 

With such memorials, I have sometimes felt 

It was no mentary happiness 

To have one Enclosure where the voice that speaks 

In envy or detraction is not heard ; 

Which malice may not enter ; where the traces 

Of evil inclinations are unknown ; 

Where love and pity tenderly unite 

With resignation ; and no jarring tone 

Intrudes, the peaceful concert to disturh." 

The lapse of years will produce great changes in the 
aspect of this scene. To-day the uninformed visitor might 
take it for a secular park and pleasure ground -hut the 
dead will be coming now, in rapid succession, to take 
their places here. It will be all dotted over with graves. 
Then it will have put on its appropriate look. Graves 
™es-beneath every tree, at every bend of the paths, and 
up the slopes of the hills, and hewn out, it may be, as of 
old in the face of the living rock-everywhere graves. 
tL will declare the lesson and the sentiment of th^ place 
Headstones and monuments are not essential. Without 
these, the eye of love will know where to find its own, and 
the ear will catch the voices that whisper from the dust. 
They will not be forgotten, nor without influence here 
whose resting-place is marked by no sepulchral stone, but 

who 

" trust 
The lingering gleam of their departed lives 
To oral record, and the silent heart ; 
Depositories faithful and more kind 
Than fondest epitaph." 

But monumente will be appropriate also. The " voUve 
marble and the storied granite," will add ■-*-*-;'- 
etmr a„d impressive beauty of the consecrated field. Only 
2 



10 

let them be simple and chaste, however, sometimes, massive 
and costly ; not indicating the pride and ostentation of the 
living, but the worth of the dead, and the reverent regard 
due to their memory. 

And emblematic devices and inscriptions, we v/ould hope, 
will not go out of use, nor be infrequent here. Whether 
from association or from inherent fitness, those appeals, 
found so often in ancient graveyards, are always welcome, 
such as " Pause Traveller," " Siste Viator," and "Memento 
Mori." We reverently recognize the right of the dead to 
stop us at their graves and to preach thus. 

Epitaphs, descriptive of the personal character and social 
services of those who repose beneath, will be interesting and 
instructive. Let them be composed with truth and discrimi- 
nation, and yet with generous allowance for the just influ- 
ence of death in exalting to the mind and heart of survivors 
the real virtues of the beloved and lamented. " What purity 
and brightness is that virtue clothed in, the image of which 
must no longer bless our living eyes ! The character of a 
deceased friend or beloved kinsman is not seen, no — nor 
ought to be seen, otherwise than as a tree through a tender 
haze or a luminous mist, that spiritualizes and beautifies it; 
that take away, indeed, but only to the end that the parts 
which are not abstracted may appear more dignified and 
lovely; may impress and affect the more. Let an epitaph 
be true, yet the truth hallowed by love — the joint offspring 
of the worth of the dead and the affections of the living."^ 

With the law of truth thus defined, observed in epitaphs, 
we should be willing, with the Poet, to see 

" the ground all paved 
With commendations of departed worth ; 
Reading where'er we turn, of innocent lives. 
Of each domestic charity fulfilled, 
And sufferings meekly borne — 
Among such fair recitals we should range. 
Soothed by the natural spirit which they breathe." 

• Wordsworth's Essay. 



11 

But it is not graves, nor monuments, nor sculptured epi- 
taphs, beheld in prospect as part of the scenery of the spot, 
— it is not these that give the most affecting interest to the 
solemnities of this hour ; but it is the thought, rising with a 
fearful half consciousness in our minds, and awakening 
deep awe and tenderness — the thought, whence shall come 
these, who shall fill these narrow chambers and sleep be- 
neath these marble records 1 — From yonder dwellings they 
will come, from that thick concourse of the living, from the 
happy homes and joyous circles where we and ours do 
dwell. They come, a various company, to people these 
pleasant shades — the sick, who even now await the mes- 
senger, " and wrap the drapery of their couch about them " 
for the journey hither ; and the healthy, for whom to-day 
love and hope count scores of years on earth ; the child, 
gamboling as a very thing of life in the morning, and strick- 
en from the parental arms at nightfall ; the young, cut down 
in the midst of their bloom and promise ; the Avise, the 
strong, pillars in the social fabric, on whom many are lean- 
ing now so trustingly ;. and the aged, to whom this resting- 
place is needful and welcome, as " the shadow of a rock in 
a weary land." They will come in quick succession, and 
in unexpected order, as God shall call them. As we pass 
out hence to our homes, we may almost expect to meet the 
bearers at the gate. And we, any of us, frail as the frailest 
and appointed to die, may go forth from these shades to-day, 
only to turn back again upon our own footsteps, and re-enter, 
borne by men's hands, to depart no more. Tlie brightest 
eye, the strongest arm, the most bounding heart, may come 
and be quenched and stilled within these bowers, e're one 
hue in the green roof is changed or one leaf of it has fallen 
on the sod that shall cover them. 

Thus shall they come, they — we — all one mortal dying 
family, — come to constitute the great city of the dead, and 
line its silent streets with sepulchral abodes. They come, 
from amid partings how tender, and griefs how bitter, leav- 



12 

ing what loneliness and desolation behind ! They come 
singly, but soon there shall be whole households here. Pa- 
rents, children, brothers, sisters, who hold living converse 
together in domestic love beneath one roof tree yonder, shall 
quickly be grouped together here, side by side, in the green 
graves, and one tree of the forest shall overshadow and shel- 
ter them all. 

It is anticipatory thoughts such as these, crowding upon us 
here, that justify and demand the religious character which 
we have sought to give to these inaugural exercises, — the 
prayers and hymns and words of Holy Writ, by which we 
devote and yield up these peaceful hills and vallies to the 
thronging dead. 

The desire to invest the place with all religious associa- 
tions, and to make it in all coming time, a holy spot, where 
Christian faith and feeling shall be nourished in hallowed 
contemplation, and immortal hope replume its upward 
wings. 

On the entablature of the gateway at the northern en- 
trance, we shall hereafter see inscribed in golden letters, 
those words of the Son of God, — words that have moved 
the heart of the world, and carried heavenly light into the 
dark places of mortality and grief — I am the Resurrection 
AND THE Life. What words so fit to be graven on the portal 
of a Christian burial place, as well as on every Christian 
mourner's heart. He who spake them as the Father gave 
him to speak, was borne from his cross and laid down in a 
Garden, the garden of the sepulchre ; or rather would we 
call it by its greater name, the garden of the Resurrection. 
All the spiritual charm of this lovely garden where we shall 
lay our treasures, shall be but a reflection of the beauty of 
that Garden of the Resurrection in far Jerusalem. The faith 
and hope and religious peace, that shall divest this place of 
graves of its mortal horrors, are but amaranthine flowers 
transplanted from that garden to this — from the grave of the 
master to the grave of the disciple. The angels that watched 



13 

by that sealed tomb, to the eye of fahh shall watch by these 
also. He who conquered death there, hath abolished it 
here. That glorious promise, "because I live, ye shall live 
also," verified and confirmed at that opened and empty 
sepulchre, shall throw a heavenly radiance over the sepul- 
chres of our righteous dead, proclaim their victory even in 
the arms of death and the lap of corruption, and reconcile 
the nearest and most stricken mourner to gentle sorrow and 
cheerful fortitude and great peace in believing. 

The duties of this day are now discharged. Our poor 
services of dedication draw to their close, and in a few mo- 
ments, the sound thereof shall have died away amid the 
whispering of the leaves of the trees. 

It is not our feeble words and formal rites that shall truly 
consecrate the place — ^not these — but the coming in of the 
mighty hosts of the dead, and the thoughts and feelings that 
shall come with them, and linger round them in the hearts of 
the living who shall lay their best beloved here — these shall 
consecrate it. The tears that shall water its shaded ave- 
nues, as the sad processions shall wind slowly round to the 
opened sepulchres shall consecrate it. The fond regrets 
that shall revert hither, every day, from bleeding hearts and 
bereaved homes, shall consecrate it. The green mounds, 
that cover precious dust, the sombre tomb doors, the monu- 
ments gleaming through the wood, the fresh flowers laid 
upon the new graves, the shrubs planted and tended with 
trembling hand and tearful eye, these shall be a daily con- 
secration The thoughts that visit the bowed mourners 
bending over the ashes of their kindred ; the emotions, too 
deep for utterance and too sacred for witnesses, that shall 
seek indulgence within these forest coverts ; the tender recol- 
lections, the gentle consolations, the religious vows, the 
immortal hopes, conceived and nourished in the solemn 
stillness of the place — these shall be its continuous and ever 
heightening and cumulative consecration, to make it holy 



14 

as old cathedral aisles, or ancient altars at which saints and 
martyrs have bowed down and died. 

Come, then, ye advancing companies of the dying ! 
Come, children of mortality, and take your allotted places 
within these peaceful bowers. They shall be sacred forever 
to your holy claim. We bid you welcome, sent of God, to 
your grassy couch spread in the gentle lap of nature by 
nature's God and yours. The earth lie light upon you ! 
Come, and our faithful care shall shield your slumbers. 
And He who clothes the flowers at your feet with glory, 
and upholds the sparrow that sings 3^our matin song in the 
branches above, shall keep you in peace till the day of his 
appearing, when the graves shall be opened and the sea give 
up its dead. Come, in willing obedience to the summons of 
your God ; and, O, be it, through his grace, with the 
song of the redeemed just parted from your marble lips, and 
the light of faith lingering in your closing eyes, and the seal 
of the heavenly promise stamped on your tranquil brows ! 
Come, and, till the resurrection morn, rest here in peace, 

" And Nature's pleasant robe of green, 
Humanity's appointed shroud, enwrap 
Your monuments and your memory." 



ORDER OF SERVICES. 



I. 

ANTHEM— [By the Choir.] 

ACCOMPANIED BY THE BOSTON BRASS BAND, 

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only 
doeth wondrous things. 

And blessed be his glorious name for ever : and let the 
whole earth be filled with his glory ; Amen, and amen. 

II. 

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER. 

BY REV. AUGUSTUS C. THOMPSON. 

[Note. — Rev. Mr. Thompson is unable to furnish for ptb ication the appro- 
priate introductory Prayer offered by him on tliis occasion.] 

III. 

HYMN— [For the occasion.] 

BY REV. CYRUS H. FAY. 

1 We come not now the spell to break. 

That reigns within this green retreat ; 
We come not here the hum to wake, 
Of crowded mart and thronging street. 

2 We choose this sacred forest gloom. 

Around us now so calmly spread, 
To rear the column and the tomb, 
And build our city of the dead. 

3 And, O, how meet for its repose, 

This soothing shade and silence deep ! 
They '11 woo us at life's evening close, 
To death's untroubled, dreamless sleep. 



IG 

4 Thou, who didst man from dust create, 

A few brief seasons to endure, 
O, help us now to consecrate 
This place to solemn sepulture. 

5 Here, side by side, the high and low. 

And rich and poor shall equal lie ; 
While o'er them Love's warm tears will flow. 
And Friendship heave her poignant sigh. 

6 Here, then, let Hope's bright beacon burn, 

And Faith say, pointing from the sod, 
*' While dust doth unto dust return. 
The spirit doth ascend to God." 

IV. 

SELECTION FROM THE SCRIPTURES. 

BY REV. JOHN WAYLAND, D. D. 
GENESIS— Chap. XXHI. 

1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty- 
years old : these were the years of the hfe of Sarah. 

2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba ; the same is Hebron 
in the land of Canaan : And Abraham came to mourn for 
Sarah, and to weep for her. 

3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake 
imto the sons of Heth, saying, 

4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you : give me a 
possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my 
dead out of my sight. 

5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying 
unto him, 

6 Hear us, my lord : thou art a mighty prince among us : 
in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead : none of us 
shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest 
bury thy dead. 

7 And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the peo- 
ple of the land, even to the children of Heth. 

8 And he communed with them saying. If it be your 
mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, 
and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 

9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which 
he hath, which is in the end of his field ; for as much money 



17 

as it is worth he shall give it me, for a possession of a bury- 
in g-place among you. 

10 And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth. And 
Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of 
the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gates of 
his city, saying, 

1 1 Nay, my lord, hear me : the field give I thee, and the 
cave that is therein, I give it thee ; in the presence of the 
sons of my people give 1 it thee : bury thy dead. 

12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the people 
of the land. 

13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the peo- 
ple of the land, saying. But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, 
hear me : I will give thee money for the field : take it of me, 
and I will bury my dead there. 

14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, 

15 My lord, hearken unto me : the land is worth four 
hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and 
thee ? bury therefore thy dead. 

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and Abraham 
weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the 
audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, 
current money with the merchant. 

17 And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, 
which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was 
therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in 
all the borders round about, were made sure 

18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the 
children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his 
city. 

19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the 
cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre : the same is 
Hebron in the land of Canaan. 

20 And the field, and the cave that is therein were made 
sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place, by 
the sons of Heth. 

PSALM XC. 

3 Thou turnest man to destruction ; and sayest, Return, 
ye children of men. 
3 



18 

4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday 
when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 

5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood ; they are as 
a sleep ; in the morning they are hke grass which grow- 
eth up. 

G In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the 
evening it is cut down, and withereth. 

7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy 
wrath are we troubled. 

8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins 
in the light of thy countenance. 

9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : we 
spend our years as a tale that is told. 

10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten ; 
and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is 
their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and 
we fly away. 

1 1 Who knoweth the power of thine anger 1 even accord- 
ing to thy fear so is thy wrath. 

12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply 
our hearts unto wisdom. 

1 COR.— Chap. XV. 

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all 
sleep, but we shall all be changed, 

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be 
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and 
this mortal must put on immortality. 

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then 
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is 
swallowed up in victory. 

V. 

ADDRESS. 

BY REV. GEORGE PUTNAM, D. D. 



19 

VI. 

HYMN— [For the occasion.] 

BY REV. CYRUS H. FAY. 

1 When rose the Savior from the tomb. 
He robbed it of its deepest gloom, 
Sealed hopeless griePs complaining lips. 
And death became but life's eclipse. 

2 Let Hope then beam around the dead, 
• And Faith her holy influence shed ; 

Where nature doth her charms disclose. 
There give their cherished dust repose. 

3 Calm woodland shade ! w^e here would lay 
The ashes of our loved away ; 

And come at length ourselves to sleep. 
Where thou wilt peaceful vigil keep. 

4 And when around our graves shall bend. 
In bitter grief, the faithful friend, 

O, let thy peace sink on the soul. 
And soothe it to thy sweet control. 

VII. 

CONCLUDING PRAYER. 

BY REV. EDMUND F. SLAFTER. 

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the words 
which we have heard this day with our outward ears, may, 
through thy grace, be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, 
that they may bring forth in us the fruits of good living ; 
to the honor and praise of thy name, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. 

Almighty and Eternal God, who hast taught us in thy 
Holy Word, that when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come in 
glorious majesty to judge the world, the earth and the sea 
shall give up their dead, and the corruptible bodies of those 
who sleep in Him shall be changed and made like unto 
his own glorious body, according to the mighty working 
whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. And 
who hast likewise instructed us by the example of thy de- 
vout servants, to set apart peculiar places wherein the bodies 



20 

of men may be committed to the ground. Accept, we be- 
seech thee, this pious and charitable work of ours, in sepa- 
rating and consecrating this portion of ground, where our 
bodies and those of our kindred and friends may rest in 
peace and be preserved from all the indignities of the 
ungodly and profane. And we beseech thee. Eternal 
Father, that all the holy memories that shall gather 
around this place of the congregated dead, may have 
a salutary and sanctifying effect upon the hearts of tiie liv- 
ing, and, accompanied by thy spiritual benediction ryid 
grace, be conveyed to the remotest generations. And may 
thy heavenly grace be vouchsafed to all here present, on 
this solemn and interesting occasion, that by the frequent 
instances of mortality which we behold, we may learn and 
seriously consider how frail and uncertain is our condition 
here upon the earth : And may we so number our days as 
to apply our hearts unto wisdom ; that in the midst of life 
thinking upon death and daily preparing ourselves for the 
judgment that is to follow, we may have our part in the 
resurrection with Him, who died for our sins and rose again 
for our justification, and now liveth and reigneth with Thee 
and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. A7nen. 

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gra- 
cious favor, and further us with thy continued help, that in 
all our works begun, continued and ended in thee, we may 
glorify thy holy name, and finally by thy mercy, obtain 
everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

And we now continue our supplications unto thee, in the 
words of him, who hath taught us when we pray to say ; 
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name : thy 
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven : 
Give us this day our daily bread ; and forgive us our tres- 
passes as we forgive those who trespass against us ; and 
lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil ; For 
thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever 
and ever. Amen. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Chiist, and the love of God, 
and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all ever- 
more. Amen, 



21 

VIII. 

HYMN — Selected. 

1 I would not live alway ; I ask not to stay. 
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way ; 
The few lurid mornings that dawn on us here, 

Are enough for life's woes, full enough for its cheer. 

2 I would not live away ; no — welcome the tomb ; 
Since Jesus hath lain there, I dread not its gloom ; 
There sweet be my rest, till he bid me arise, 

To hail him in triumph descending the skies. 

IX. 

BENEDICTION.* 

BY REV. CYRUS H. FAY. 

And now may that peace of God which passeth all un- 
derstanding pervade our hearts hence, evermore : and when 
the graves shall give up their dead, may he receive all to 
himself, for whom Christ died, redeemed and sanctified. 
Amen. 

• The Rev. J. S. Shailer was announced in the Order of Exercises, to pro- 
nounce the Benediction, and in consequence of his absence, that service was 
performed by Rev. Mr. Fay. 



22 



The following was the Order of Procession on the occa- 



sion. 



Aid. 



Marshal. 



Marshal. 



ORDER OF PROCESSION. 

City Marshal. Aid. 

^ Music. I 

\ The Boston Brass Band. ^ 

His Honor the Mayor and Orator. Marshal. 
The Officiating Clergy, 
Board of Commissioners. 

Board of Aldermen. Marshal. 



City Clerk, Clerk Common Council, and Treasurer. 



Marshal. 



Marshal. 



President of the Common Council. 
Members of the Common Council. 

Marshal. School Committee. Marshal. 

Reverend Clergy. 

Marshal. Past Mayor. Marshal. 

Past Members of the Board of Aldermen. 

Past Members of the Common Council. 

Marshal. Representatives of the City in the Marshal. 
General Court, and Senators of Norfolk. 

Marshal. Past Selectmen of the Town of Marshal. 

Roxbury. 

Marshal. Municipal Authorities of Boston and Marshal. 

other adjoining Cities and Towns. 

Board of Assessors. 

Marshal. Overseers of the Poor. Marshal. 

Marshal. Consulting Physicians, and Marshal. 

Physician and Superintendent of the Alms House. 

Marshal. Chief and Assistant Engineers of the Marshal. 

Fire Department. 

Officers of the Fire Department. 

Marshal. Teachers of the Public Schools. Marshal. 

Ward Officers. 
Marshal. Citizens. Marshal. 

n^^Centlemen designated in the Procession are requested 
to meet near the Commissioners' Office, on Aspen or Willow 
Avenue, at half past 2 o'clock, P. M. where the music will 
be stationed, and where the Procession will be formed. 



S3 

Stations will be assigned under the direction of the PoHce 
for horses and vehicles, and none will be permitted to remain 
near the place of Consecration. 

Marshals will be in attendance at Consecration Hill to 
furnish seats for the ladies. 

After the exercises have commenced no horses or vehicles 
will be permitted to pass through the grounds near Conse- 
cration Hill, until the close of the services. 

The Procession will march through several avenues to 
Consecration Hill, where the services will take place in the 
order following. 

THOMAS ADAMS, City Mars/icU. 



The following gentlemen were appointed to officiate as 
Marshals. 



Aid. 
John L. Plummer. 



Chief Marshal. 
THOMAS ADAMS. 



Aid. 
John B. Kettell. 



Marshals. 



William Gaston, 
John S. Flint, 
Stephen M. Weld, 
Henry Shed, 
Charles H. Poole, 
James E. Forbush, 
A. Davis Adams, 
J. F. Woodside, 
Benjamin Perkins, Jr. 
George Curtis, 
George P. Burnham, 
Joseph Shed, 



Benjamin H. Burrell, 
William S. Leland, 
Aaron D. Williams, Jr. 
Edward Wyman, 
Isaac S. Burrell, 
John P. Townsend, 
Nathaniel Francis, Jr. 
George W. Pierce, 
D. F. Drew, 
James M. Keith, 
James W. Gushing. 
J. H. Foster, Jr. 



Marshals at Consecration Hill. 



George Lewis, 

C. Alexander Hall, 

John R. Hall, 

J. Phillips George, 

Louis R. Lull, 

George H. Williams, 

Charles L. Perkins, 



Thomas B. Wales, 
E. P. Flint, 
John Marsh, Jr. 
John Richardson, 
William E. James, 
William Hall. 



24 



JOINT COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
FOR THE CONSECRATION. 

Aldermen, CALVIN YOUNG and 
SAMUEL P. BLAKE, 

of the Board of Aldermen^ and 

Messrs. JOSEPH N. BREWER, 

WILLIAM J. REYNOLDS, 
EBENEZER W. STONE, 

of the Common Council. 

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS. 
Elected by the City Council^ under the Act of the Legislature. 

HENRY A. S. DEARBORN, 
ALVAH KITTREDGE, 
FRANCIS C. HEAD, 
HENRY CODMAN, 
GEORGE R. RUSSELL. 



APPENDIX. 



At a meeting of the City Council July 26, 1847, it being understood that 
the Connnittee on Burial Grounds, would recommend the purchase of a tract 
of land, situated near Walk Hill streef, belonging to Joel Seaverns, Esq., as a 
suitable place for a Public Cemetery, and as the City Council intended to 
adjourn until September, the following resolve was passed. 

" Resolved, That the members of the City Council will visit in a body the 
lands upon Walk Hill on Thursday next, and that a committee of three with 
such as the Mayor and Aldermen may join, be appointed to make all neces- 
sary arrangements," &c. 

Messrs. Eaton, Brown and Dexter, were appointed on the part of the 
Common Council, and Aldermen Head and Wakd were joined from the 
Board of Aldermen. 

A very able and elaborate report was drawn up by the Mayor, and sub- 
mitted in the Common Coimcil September 6, by Mr. Crafts of the Committee. 
It was laid upon the table and ordered to be printed. (City Document, No. 7, 
1847.) The order accompanying it passed the Common Council, September 
27, and was sent to the Board of Aldermen for concurrence. It having been 
amended, passed that branch November 9th, and was sent back to the Com- 
mon Council for its concurrence in the amendment. The Council concurred, 
and the order passed as amended, and is as follows : 

Ordered, That the Joint Standing Committee on Burial Grounds be and they 
hereby are authorized to purchase of Joel Seaverns, for a Rural Cemetery, a 
tract of land called the Seaverns Farm, containing fifty-five acres more or less, 
at three hundred and fifty dollars per acre ; and the City Treasurer is hereby 
authorized and required to give the note of the city for the amount of the pur- 
chase money of said land, payable in ten years from the first day of August, 
A. D. 1847, with interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum, payable an- 
nually. 

Ordered further , That a Joint Special Committee of five be appointed to 
apply to the General Court, for an amendment to the City Charter, authorizing 
the City Council to choose Commissioners or Trustees, not exceeding five, who 
shall have the sole care, superintendence and management of said Cemetery, 
and report thereon, annually to the City Council : one of whom, after five 
years, shall go out of office each year, and one member of said Board of Com- 
missioners or Trustees, chosen annually thereafter in the month of April : said 
amendment to provide further, that a portion of said Cemetery be set apart or 
appropriated for public burial, free of charge, and also that the proceeds of sales 

4 



26 

of lots or rights of burial in said Cemetery, shall be devoted to the liquidation 
of the debt incurred in the purchase of the land, and to the improvement and 
embellishment of the Cemetery, under the direction of said Commissioners or 
Trustees, and that no monies shall be appropriated from the City Treasury by 
the City Council, for such improvement and embellishment, together with such 
other provisions as said Committee may deem proper, and for the interest of 
said Cemetery and of the city. 

The quantity of land contained in the " Seaverns lot," according to the sur- 
vey, is 56 acres, 3 qrs. 37 rods, and 7-10, and the amount paid for the same 
was $19,944.98. 

The Mayor and Alderman Lewis of the Board of Aldermen, and Messrs. 
Reynolds, Brewer and Brown, of the Common Council, were appointed 
a committee to apply to the Legislature for an amendment of the City Charter, 
agreeably to the order. 

At a special meeting of the City Council, ]\Tarch 27, Mr. Brewer, in the 
Common Council, submitted the report of the Committee, covering a copy of 
the Act which they obtained from the Legislature. A Special Act was obtained 
by the Committee, and not an amendment to the City Charter. This was 
deemed proper by the Committee, and approved by the City Council. The 
act was accepted unanimously by both branches, and is as follows : 

AN ACT 

Relating to a Public Cemetery in the City of Roxbury. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 
Court assembled, and hy the authority of the same, as follows: 

Sect. 1. The City Council of Roxbury is hereby authorized to elect by 
joint ballot in convention, a board of five Commissioners, for the term of five 
years, who shall have the sole care, superintendence and management of the 
Rural Cemetery established by said City Council; one member of which board 
shall go out of office each year, and one member shall be chosen annually in the 
month of March; but said board or either member thereof, after having had an 
opportunity to be heard in his or their defence, may be removed at any time, 
by a concurrent vote of two-thirds of each branch of the City Council; and in 
case of a vacancy in said board of Commissioners by death, resignation, re- 
moval or otherwise, such vacancy shall be filled by the choice of another Com- 
missioner in the manuer aforesaid, who shall hold his office for the residue of 
the term for which such member so deceased, resigned, or removed, would 
have held the same. Said board may be organized by the choice of a chairman 
and secretary from their own number, and a major part of said board shall con- 
stitute a quorum for the exercise of the powers and the performance of the 
duties of the said office. And the term for which the several members of the 
first board of Commissioners shall hold their office, shall be determined by the 
City Council, as follows : The Commissioner first chosen, shall hold his office 
for five years ; the Commissioner next chosen, shall hold his office for four 
years ; the Commissioner next chosen, shall hold his office for three years ; 
the Commissioner next chosen, shall hold his office for two years ; and the 
Commissioner next chosen, shall hold his office for one year. 

Sect. 2. The said board of Commissioners shall set apart and appropriate 
a portion of said Cemetery as a public burial place for the use of the inhabitants 



27 

of the city of Roxbury, free of any charge therefor; and they shall lay out said 
Cemetery in suitable lots, or other subdivisions, for family or other burying 
places, with all the necessary paths and avenues, and may plant and embellish 
the same with trees, shrubs, flowers, and other rural ornaments, and may 
enclose and divide the same with proper fences, and erect or annex thereto 
such suitable edifices, appendages and conveniences, as they shall from time to 
time deem expedient ; and said board may make all necessary by-laws, rules 
and regulations, in the execution of their trust, not inconsistent with this act 
and the laws of the Commonwealth, as they shall deem expedient. 

Sect. 3. Said board of Commissioners shall have authority to grant and 
convey to any person or persons by deeds duly executed, the sole and exclusive 
right of burial, and of erecting tombs, cenotaphs and other monuments in any 
of the designated lots or subdivisions of said Cemetery, upon such terms and 
conditions, as they shall by their rules and regulations prescribe. 

Sect. 4. The proceeds of sales of lots or rights of burial in said Cemetery, 
shall be paid into the city treasury to be kept separate from any other funds of 
the city, and subject to the order of said Commissioners, and such proceeds 
shall be devoted to the liquidation of the debt incurred in the purchase of the 
land for said Cemetery, and to the improvement and embellishment thereof, as 
aforesaid ; under the direction of said board of Commissioners. And no other 
moneys shall be appropriated from the city treasury by the City Council for 
such improvement and embellishment. 

Sect. 5. Said board of Commissioners shall annually, in the month of 
February, and whenever required by the City Council, make and render a 
report in writing of all their acts and proceedings, and of the condition of the 
Cemetery, and an account of the receipts and expenditures for the same, and 
the funds subject to their order. 

Sect. 6. This Act shall be void unless the City Council of Roxbury shall 
accept the same at a meeting of said City Council, called for that purpose, 
within thirty days after its passage. 

Sect. 7. This Act shall take efiect from and after its passage. 

[Approved by the Governor, March 24, 1848.] 

A convention of the two branches was proposed by the Common Council and 
agreed to by the Board of Aldermen, March 30th, for the purpose of electing 
Five Commissioners agreeably to the first section of the foregoing act, and at 
8.^ o'clock the Board of Aldermen came in, in convention, when the following 
gentlemen were elected Commissioners, viz . — Henry A. S. Dearborn, Alvah 
Kittredge, Francis C. Head, Henry Codman, and George R. Russell. 

The Commissioners after organizing agreeably to the act, commenced the 
work of laying out the grounds on the 25th day of April, and on the 28th day 
of June they were solemnly consecrated and set apart with appropriate religious 
services. 

It was originally intended, that the main entrance to the Cemetery should be 
on the southerly side from Walk Hill street, through a tract of land belonging 
to Dr. John C. Warren, adjoining the grounds, over which the City possessed a 
right of way, but as serious objections and unforeseen difficulties presented 
themselves, it was deemed advisable that this proposed entrance should be 
abandoned, and one sought for in another direction. A much more convenient 
as well as desirable entrance was found, on the northerly side of the grounds. 



28 

through land belonging to John Parkinson, Esq., to obtain wliich, it became 
necessary to purchase an additional quantity of land; and on the 26th of June 
the City Council authorized the purchase from Mr. Parkinson of 14 acres, 2 qrs. 
13 rods, for the sum of $7,949.68, payable in six years, from July 1st, 1848, 
with interest annually. 

On the 22d of May a Joint Committee consisting of Aldermen Young and 
Blake, on the part of the Board of Aldermen, and Messrs. Brewer, 
Reynold8 and Stone, on the part of the Common Council, was appointed 
to co-operate with the Commissioners and make all necessary and proper 
arrangements for the Consecration. The Committee subsequently reported 
that Wednesday, June 28th, had been agreed upon as the day for Consecra- 
tion, and that all the necessary arrangements had been made by them and the 
Commissioners, and the services of Consecration took place accordingly on the 
afternoon of that day, 

" Foeest Hills " having been recommended by the Commissioners as an 
appropriate name for the Cemetery, an Ordinance establishing the same was 
passed by the City Council July 3. 

According to the surveys, the Cemetery contains 71 acres, 2 qrs. -J^ rods, 
and the cost of the same was $27,894.66. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



014 014 644 4 %! 




